Pentecost Homily

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost, which marks the birth of the Church through the outpouring of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In the Book of Genesis, we are told of the Tower of Babel. Here, human pride rejected God’s design for humanity. At Babel, a unified human race, driven by arrogance, attempted to build a massive tower to reach into the heavens. This was a direct rejection of God’s command to scatter, multiply, and fill the earth. Because of this act of defiance, God intervened by confounding their single language into many, leaving them unable to communicate with one another.

At Pentecost, a profound reversal of Babel takes place. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, “By this power of the Spirit, God's children can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear 'the fruit of the Spirit’... The Church, through the scattering of nations, gathers them into the unity of God's family.”

Therefore, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descends, and the Apostles begin to speak in different languages. The miracle lies in the fact that everyone is now able to hear the Gospel being proclaimed in their own tongue. Language is no longer a barrier of confusion, as it was at Babel, because the Holy Spirit allows us to hear and understand the truth that has been revealed.

The fire that descended upon the Upper Room did not come to destroy and isolate, but to purify and to heal. At Babel, there was a prideful desire to storm heaven through human power alone, while the Apostles waited in humble prayer for heaven to descend upon them. Through this divine encounter, we have been unified and are now empowered to confess together that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Today, we are invited to look inward at our own lives. Do we rely upon our own strength, leading us down the path of pride, anger, and division? Pentecost does not leave us isolated; instead, it invites us to enter into deep communion with God, the giver of all good gifts. In the Church, this communion is made manifest as people of every nation, race, and tongue stand together before the altar of sacrifice to give God glory and praise.

Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are given the grace necessary to live this calling out in the world. We can now scatter across this globe as true witnesses to Christ, multiplying His disciples through our love, and filling the entire earth with the radiant glory of His Gospel. We are not sent out alone; we are propelled forward by the gentle, powerful aid of the Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth.

Ascension Homily

Today we observe the External Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. In being taken up, it would seem that the Lord was giving His final goodbye to His apostles. In reality, by being taken up to Heaven, He is not giving a final goodbye nor making a departure, but is becoming more accessible to them—and thus to us.

As Saint Augustine stated, Christ “did not leave heaven when He came down to us, nor did He withdraw from us when He went up again into Heaven.” By ascending, He transitioned from being beside His followers to being among them in a universal way. If He had stayed on this earth, He could only be present in one place at a time; but now, He is universally present.

Through the Ascension, Christ is glorified and thus no longer bound by space and time. We especially see this in the Eucharist, where Christ is present with us—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. In the tabernacle is truly God’s presence among us, physically and not merely symbolically. This is possible because He has been taken up to Heaven and has not left us abandoned.

Now, with our sight set upon Him, we are able to be led to where He has gone. He is the forerunner, which means that His goodbye is not final. Instead, He is simply the first to walk through the door, which He now holds open for everyone else. Will we place our trust in Him and allow Him to lead us into Paradise, or will we instead attempt (though it is impossible) to enter by another gate?

As we recite in the Nicene Creed, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” This time between the Ascension and the Second Coming is not an absence, but a vigil. In ancient marriage customs, the groom would leave his bride to go to his father’s house to prepare a place. In going up, He prepares such a place for us—but will we be found watchful and awake?

We must remain in constant readiness, for “no one knows the day nor the hour.” A vigil requires a state of constant readiness so that we may be found prepared. Frequent confession and a daily examination of conscience assist us in being ready to meet the Lord at any moment—be it today, tomorrow, a week, a month, or years from now.

We are not just waiting for time to pass us by; we are entering into something that should be purgative. By remaining attentive to our spiritual lives, we grow in holiness each day as we continue to choose to follow Him. Living our lives as such a vigil allows us to take the Lord’s Ascension seriously, for through it the world has not been left empty, but expectant.

We must remain expectant, for this is not a "goodbye," but a "see you soon." Let us take this promise seriously and strive, with the assistance of God’s grace, toward where He has been taken up: the Kingdom of Heaven.

6th Sunday of Easter Year A Homily

The Lord makes a promise to His disciples: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.” The placement of this passage serves as a bridge for the coming Solemnity of Pentecost. It was at Pentecost that the disciples would receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit when gathered together in the Upper Room.

Traditionally, we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord on this Thursday, 40 days after Easter. In our diocese, this solemnity is transferred to the following Sunday. The time that stretches between the Ascension and Pentecost is nine days. For these nine days, the disciples heeded the words of the Lord; thus, they went to Jerusalem and “devoted themselves with one accord to prayer.”

This period of nine days was not just a passive wait, but a time of intense spiritual preparation. Here, tradition states that they underwent a period of asceticism which would detach them from the world in order to make room for the divine gift which would come. The physical Jesus had returned to His Father, and they intensely prepared for the coming of this Advocate.

We, too, should prepare for the coming of such an Advocate. It is so easy to allow the days of the liturgical year to pass by without entering fully into them. Undergoing such a novena allows us to enter into a series of prayers so that we may remain open to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord).

The Sacrament of Confession would serve us well during this period of days. Through such a confession, we examine our lives in light of the Lord’s command to love and seek out the grace that we may live such love in the midst of this world. This allows us to be a suitable dwelling place for the Holy Spirit to enter in and dwell with us.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is very important for us. Without the Holy Spirit, the commandments would seem to be a heavy burden of rules that cannot be followed. The Holy Spirit assists us in knowing all that is true and gives us the strength to act upon it despite its difficulty. Through the Holy Spirit, our fear becomes courage and our confusion becomes a clear witness to the Gospel.

We cannot be content to stay as we are, but must allow the fire of God’s love to renew us. The world may not see or know Him, but through our prayerful waiting, we are inviting the fire of God’s love to renew us. It is He who empowers us to go forth from this church and participate in the ongoing mission of renewing the face of the earth.

In the days ahead—especially from the Friday following the Ascension to the Saturday nine days later—let us have such expectant faith. Let our hearts remain open to the Seven Gifts which give us the strength to live as true disciples of the Lord. Let us prepare with true faith as we say, Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit).

5th Sunday of Easter Year A Homily

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” This verse provides the ultimate hope that our life is a journey toward a specific place that has been prepared for us. Just as the Israelites journeyed toward the Promised Land, we as people of faith journey toward the Promised Land that is the Kingdom of Heaven.

This verse is not a rejection of the importance of the visible Church; it actually reinforces the necessity of the Church. These “dwelling places” are not private islands but are joined together as one into a single family home. For this reason, we must remain united to the Church, for we discover our unity through her.

In the ancient world, a house was not just a building. Rather, it was a family unit where one’s whole family resided. When a son would get married, he would add a “dwelling place” onto his father’s existing home. Over time, this would lead to many dwelling places united together in a permanent community.

Despite the “many rooms” that are represented, they remain united within the one house. This symbolizes the unity of the Church. Here, people from every nation and culture are able to reside together under one roof. They have endured the assaults of the enemy and have now been called home to God.

Jesus proclaims, “I go to prepare a place for you.” He does this through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. The Church is the vehicle that has been established for us so that we may be prepared for such a dwelling place. He left us the sacraments—such as Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, and Confession—in order that we may be given the grace needed to run the race.

If we were to remove the Church from this situation, we would be left without a structure to which these many rooms could be joined. Without the Church, we would be left as isolated individuals wandering around and doing as we please. The Church provides us with the structure of this home through the Creed, its hierarchy, Sacred Scripture, and tradition.

As Christians, we need to remain united to such a life of faith. There is always the allure of abandoning such confines. In doing so, we chase after something other than the unity that should exist and become individuals who have placed themselves at the center of life. We cannot start our own church based on what we want to believe, but must follow what has been handed down to us as truth.

As we look toward those eternal rooms, let us not see the Church as a set of restrictive walls, but as the very foundation that makes our homecoming possible. We must remain rooted in the life of the Church. Let us persevere in faith by keeping our sight set upon Christ and the Church He has left behind to care for our souls.

4th Sunday of Easter Year A Homily

On this Good Shepherd Sunday we are reminded that Christ as Shepherd is the gate that we must enter into. There are those who will attempt to enter it via some other avenue, but that is an impossibility. We can only enter the Kingdom of Heaven through Him and so no matter how difficult something may be in our life we must come to place our trust in Him.

In our lives we are often tempted to find another way to enter because in the midst of hardship it is always easier to desire to discover a shortcut. Such paths allow us to avoid discomfort, confrontation, or the cost of doing what is right. Through such an attitude we want the safety of the sheepfold, but we do not want the struggle that goes with getting there.

The thief and the robber are reminders of those voices within us that make us desire to prioritize self over what is true. It is much easier to lie to avoid trouble, to remain silent in the face of injustice, or to simply give into the temptations that plagues our mind. To act in such a way is to claim to be a follower of Christ without following the path that He has given us.

In our Epistle Saint Peter stated, “If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God.” Such words remind us of the redemptive nature of suffering. Christ did not bypass human suffering, instead He embraced it fully upon the wood of the cross. None of us can climb over the Cross to get to the Resurrection. To follow Him we must embrace the cross.

Through taking up the cross and following after Him we are entering into relationship with Him. Because of this God is not absent in the midst of our suffering and hardships. Rather, He is offering us a share in His own life. Through the cross we are being led towards virtue and the transformation that takes place within us for embracing it.

We can see that the Shepherd always leads by example. It is He who goes before His sheep and they are able to follow His voice. This voice does not lead us to the goal of worldly power or earthly success, but one that leads us towards the ultimate surrender of the Cross. From Calvary we are able to see the love that Christ pours out for each of us.

In our modern world we see such suffering as a sign of failure. This is not the case for through such suffering we have come to be redeemed and from it we have the hope that shines forth through the Resurrection. It is this hope which allows us to continue upon path which leads towards Eternal Life by no other gate than Christ, and thus through all that He has asked of us.

A true sheep is willing to stay within the confines of the sheepfold. Through such a perspective they have come to know and listen to the voice of the Shepherd. Let us listen to His voice and in the midst of all hardship come to place our trust in Him instead of entrusting ourselves to the easier path which never leads unto the Lord and Everlasting Life.